House of Peace
by NAME 'V
Summary: The drama and romance at Anubis house on Christmas Eve.


Christmas – that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance – a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.  
- Augusta E. Rundel

Liverpool, England; Christmas Eve

"Nn nn no! Alfie that's not a good idea, you'll brake something!" yelled Mara from the bottom of the stairs. Alfie was perched on a sled at the top of the stairs, Jerome chanting "Let's go, Alfie!" wasn't helping.

"Ya hoooooo!" Alfie yodeled with exitement as he and the tabogan raced down the steps straight into Mara. Mara let out a yelp and dazed, she stood up and walked into the kitchen help Nina and Amber make sugar cookies.

Amber was looking though a box full of metal cookie cutters Trudy had brought up from the basement.  
"Oooh, this one looks like Corbierre!" Amber held up a raven shaped cookie cutter to Nina and Mara. "Mick, if you keep eating the dough, there'll be none left to make cookies!" Amber shouted across the kitchen to Mick who was sitting cross legged on the counter opposite the three girls.

Outside, Mr. Sweet and Victor were dragging a huge pine tree across the lawn in front of Anubis house. This was a rather funny scene cause neither men could firmly hold the tree, and kept dropping it and hopping out of it's way to avoid the tree landing on their toes.  
Eventually, Victor and Mr. Sweet drug the pine tree into the living and dining room.

After the tree was set up, Victor and Vera had set Corbierre and Delores together under the tree. Alfie had taken two ribbons and made bows, which he had tied around the 'pets' heads, making them look like presents. Jerome found some plastic mistle toe and taped up it above them.

Alfie was supposed to rap the beaded garland around the tree, but some how ended up rapping it around him self. Joy and Patricia hung up ornaments (mostly resembling Egyptian gods and symbols). Alfie still tied up was hopping in circles around the living and dining room. Eddie repeatedly kept shaking the ladder Patricia was now standing on. Every ten seconds she'd yell "Quit it you weasel!", which only motivated Eddie to rock the ladder harder.

Victor never understood why children enjoyed Christmas so much. To him it was another snowy cold day. But right now he had to think about something else, he needed to beat those little brats to the next task, he needed time to think.

Downstairs, Vera was just returning from the grocery store to 'get ingredients for her Chocolate Nightmare cake.' Fabian had taken some tinsel covered garland and covered the banister in it. When he was done it looked like some golden fuzzy monster.

At 9:59, Victor as usual, preformed his nightly curfew routine.  
"It is 10 o'clock, and I want to hear a pin drop..." And just for epiphysis Victor, precisely at 10:00 dropped his pin.

Then walked back to the dinning and living room. He flopped down on the brown leather sofa in exhaustion. Victor pulled his notebook from his coat pocket and stared at the page he had flipped open to. Written on this page was the partly deciphered paragraph from The Book of Isis. Vera came over and looked at Victor, then the notebook.

They stood up, then silently waltzed around the entry hall. Still audible, both could still hear the soft Christmas music playing from the radio in the living room.  
"This is my favorite song." Whispered Vera  
"Mine too."  
A floorboard squeaked, somewhere down the hall there where soft fast footsteps. Around the corner appeared Trudy, unnoticed, holding a rolling pin. She stopped mid step, watching the couple sway in the dim moonlight.

Outside, the snow danced softly to the ground, glowing in the light of the moon. Like the snow, the sparkles on Vera's dress glistened, creating a light glow around her. For once, Victor smiled. He had this look as if he was now at peace.

Above, tied to the chandelier, was a twig of mistletoe. The couple stopped dancing they stood in the center of the foyer, beneath the mistletoe, just holding each other.  
"Victor, look." Vera whispered. She pointed at the mistletoe hanging above them.

Victor looked. Vera gently grabbed his collar, pulling him closer. Then she put her soft pink lips to his check and kissed him. Victor was stunned, then after a moment of stillness he gave her a sweet sincere smile.  
After a few minutes passed, the two broke apart.  
"Good night, Victor." Vera said as she head to the stairs.  
"Good night, Vera, ...um..." Victor replied lost for words. He cleared his throat. "I love you."  
Vera smiled, then walked to her bedroom in the attic.

At 6:00, Alfie was up bright and early. He was now shaking Jerome, who kept waking up then going back to sleep. Amber was pumped. She got up early too, to put on her special Christmas skirt and blouse. Nina jumped awake when Amber accidentally opened her box of lipstick upside down, spilling the contents everywhere. Across the hall, Mara was video chatting with Mick and Joy was reading a gossip magazine.

Patricia had already been up since 4am. She sneaked down stairs, trying not to be heard by Victor. She went into the laundry room and got a large bucket and filled it with ice cold water. Then Patricia slipped into Eddie and Fabian's room. She had been standing next to Eddie's bed, bucket in hands ready to dump right on to his head. Promptly at six-thirty, Eddie stirred, and down went the water. Eddie had no idea what hit him. Eddie bounced out of bed like it was on fire. He was sopping wet with freezing water. Patricia ran as fast as she could, sprinting down the hall to avoid being caught. Fabian startled leaped to his feet, staring at Eddie.  
" I swear I'll kill her...!" Said Eddie under his breath.

Under the tree there were almost fifty brightly wrapped boxes. After everyone filed into the living room, Trudy played 'Santa' and pasted out presents. It was quite obvious which were Amber's, as all of hers were wrapped in pink paper with pink fuzzy bows.

"Sweet, dude!" Yelled Alfie to Jerome. Jerome had given him a remote controlled UFO.  
Mara got some neon jell pens with a notebook from Joy. Nina got a cute silver bracelet with a American flag charm from Fabian. Nina gave Fabian a set of new wooden drum sticks and five multicolored guitar picks.

To Eddie's surprise, Patricia had gotten him a present. Inside the box was a slip of paper, it read: Eddie- IOU: One on campus date and movie.

The only person missing was Victor, who had stayed in his office to finish his gift to Vera. It was, in Victor's mind beautiful, like Vera.

He head down the steps and into the living room with everyone else. Vera was in an arm chair stroking Delores. Victor walked over to her and cleared his throat rapidly. She looked up.

"Uh... Vera here, Happy Christmas!"  
Vera opened the parcel, inside was a small stuffed Blue Jay.  
" Oh, Victor!" Cried Vera "It's amazing!"  
Vera then handed Victor a gift. He opened it to reveal a set of pure silver taxidermy tools. Victor smiled.  
"How wonderful, Vera!" He exclaimed.  
"Now your tools won't rust and will always shine," Said Vera. "Like you."

'Look at them all, being so marry, they all have no idea what evil will be unleashed when I have the mask in my hands.' Thought Rufus, who was hiding in bush under the living room window spying on the residents of Anubis house. 'They will all bow down to me, even Victor.'


End file.
